iN FiVE5 HEAD-CANNON: ANCiENT AUTUMN
by yoursuperheroisshowing
Summary: Another beautiful day in autumn on the frozen beaches of Mount Justice, despite the shadowy memories of her father. Hints of Chalant and Supermartian. Y'all enjoy!


**MOUNT JUSTiCE 6:14 P.M**

Konner and M'gann walked; hand-in-hand, grinning and laughing to whatever their conversation held. Their footsteps made in-prints across the cold beach like sketches from the past. And although they weren't as susceptible to this new change in climate as humans, she had insisted that both of them take part in the custom of wearing thicker, warmer-looking clothes. M'gann was happy in her assortment of earmuffs, scarves, and other fluffy accessories, while Konner looked as if he could do without a layer or two of cuteness.

But if she was happy, so was he.

The autumn breezes had long spread its frozen aura over Happy Harbor. Not a single tree had held onto a green leaf- exception of the Evergreens. Plants were set afire in scorching oranges, reds, browns, and violent purples as they ran down the sides of Mount Justice, and all across Rhode Island. But it was here on the beach between the valleys did you really get the feel of being in a sea of burning golds and smoking-orange. As for the ocean, that iridescent turquoise from the summer had shaded itself into a deep indigo. Only crisp, white, waves could break the plane of blue.

Over to the west, the September sun had just began to lower itself closer towards the dark waterline. The more it sank, the more exotic colors bloomed across the sky, splattering themselves carelessly onto the clouds like a shaken box of paints.

And like clockwork, Zatanna was always there to watch it happen.

This was her favorite part of the season. The peak of these blazing tones in nature, wild Atlantic winds, that subconscious scent of a spicy, pumpkin and cinnamon candle- all of it.

Never having been a real outdoorsy girl before meeting Artemis, she enjoyed nature's sense of...magic. When no one one was looking, it was almost as if the plants themselves came to life- or maybe it was fairies who made this happen. The way trees would suddenly peel into their next layer of beauty as the seasons flew on.

As a young girl and magician, Zatanna had always believed in her own fantasies like this. Every time a new idea came to her, she'd run off to find her dad, then tell him all about it. Every detail. She would speak of the winged-girls who peeked out from behind pink flowers or how they would play in the cloud-sculpted castles high up in the sky. Once she was finished, she would turn to him and ask, "Are they real? Are they, Daddy?"

Giving her a kiss on the forehead, he would then lower her from his lap before resuming to what he had been doing. He never replied with a yes or no.

But he never forgot to wink at her in the most sly manner after his kisses.

Now it was years later and those fairy-tales now existed only in the back of her mind. No teasing father to recall what once filled her glitter-dusted childhood.

Maybe that was why she was here; looking up at the sunset-tinted sky on the beach, her finger levitating a bright-orange leaf in the wind as though someone where carrying it along in the air before her. A forgotten story begging to be unraveled.

Ebony strands of hair slipped from her bun and fluttered up gently with the dry grasses still embedded in the sand. After some time, her arm grew tired. She lowered it, pulling back down the sleeve of her maroon, knit, sweater. The leaf, no longer in her magics care, had quickly been abducted by the rising winds. It sped high into the air, then out of her sight.

She was still for a moment. The waves crashed, the wind sang in its hollow voices. Seagulls called out do each other over the empty space above the ocean. Then out of nowhere, she thrust both her arms into the air forcefully with a frustrated grunt. Leaves ripped themselves off the nearby trees in an instant. They clattered against each other in a scattering roar before swirling into the atmosphere in a golden blur.

Though they never fell, her icy tears sat atop those fading, periwinkle eyes.

From high up in a crevice on Mount Justice's side, Dick watched her, as he had for a while now. Zatanna's lost expression, her arms crossed across the side of her face defensively, beckoned him to lay by her side. To be a friend and confide the things that bit at her mind.

But a sense of his own fear continued to seclude him withing these walls of rock. Brain trumped emotions once again.

He held onto the fire-colored leaf and continued to gaze.

_Thanks for reading! I'd really like to hear y'all's feedback, insights, or suggestions for future stories._


End file.
